Recipe Tuesday - Cranberry Salads for Thanksgiving

Every year my side of the family makes cranberry salad from scratch - both the cooked version and the jelled or cold version. My inlaws make the cooked version with a twist, so over the 30 some years and since I am now the chief cook for one side and our house, I have combined both cooked recipes into one yet kept the jelled or cold version and make that too. When my daughter first went to her inlaws for Thanksgiving, she could not believe they opened a can of what she called this wiggle crap and dared to serve it and call it cranberry sauce. She has since converted her inlaws to our recipe and to making real mashed potatoes instead of boxed mixes. She has also cooked them a real turkey (fresh instead of a frozen). She plans on making real stuffing instead of a box mix this year along with real gravy made from the turkey drippings instead of jar gravy.

Without further ado, here's the recipe for the cranberry salads:

Cooked Cranberry Salad
1 bag raw cranberries, washed and the mushy ones taken out
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 jar of cinnamon sticks
7-8 sprigs of orange zest (I make my own from the oranges I use in the cold cranberry salad

Boil the water with the sugar. Add the cranberries, zest, and cinnamon sticks. Boil for 10 minutes then remove from heat. Once cooled, I scrape into a serving dish and serve. Now the cinnamon sticks seep the cinnamon into the sauce and my kids and husband love to suck on the sticks to get the remaining cinnamon and sauce out of the stick.


Cold Cranberry Salad
2 Oranges (Peeled but before peeling make sure you use make the zest for the cooked version)
2 Apples (Peeled and Cored)
1 Piece of Celery
1 Qt Package of Cranberries
2 Boxes of Cherry Jell-O
3 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Hot Water

1) In serving bowl, add water to Jell-o and stir until dissolved
2) Chop oranges, apples, and celery in a grinder or food processor
3) Add sugar to chopped mixture and stir
4) Add chopped mixture to Jell-O and stir
5) Put in Icebox or frig until fully jelled and ready to serve.